Zinedine Zidane was watching, so was Steph Curry, Tony Hawk and Nadia Comaneci, four of the finest athletes of the past hundred years, all come along to see another of them.
Like Comaneci said in a live interview on the big screen at the beginning of the session: “Everyone’s here to see the amazing Simone Biles.” She waited a beat then added: “And 23 other gymnasts.”
With Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps gone, Biles is the last of the great Olympic stars of the 21st century who is still competing in the Games.
She is the biggest draw here, the one athlete who can persuade people who do not much like or care for sport to switch on and watch the best to ever do it.
What they got was something even rarer again; a contest between Biles and the second-best gymnast in the world, her heir apparent, Rebeca Andrade from Brazil.
For years, everyone else has been competing for second. Biles has not lost an all-around competition since 2013, when she was beaten by her US teammate, Kyla Ross, at the 2013 Chemnitz Friendly.